Long Trip Report February 2013

[couplenindy]

My husband and I visited Desire Los Cabos in mid February 2013.

Before I go into information on the resort, I want to warn everyone about the airport time share area. When you get through customs and immigration, you will enter a room with desks on each side and men greeting you. These are VERY aggressive time share “sharks”. Ignore them, no matter what they say, and walk through either of the two sets of doors at the far end of the room. They will try to convince you that you are not allowed to go out without them telling you which of the two doors you need to go through for your ride. Ignore them, they have no authority to stop you and both doors go to the same place. They are trying to trick you into a time share meeting. They will even have shirts or badges with the name of your transfer company on it...still ignore them! If you booked a ride in advance, the transfer companies are not allowed in the airport and are waiting through the doors for you. Thankfully I was warned in advance, so I wanted to pass the info on to you. This was the only really negative part of the trip, but it wasn’t a nice start.

Our ride to the resort with Gray Line was smooth, and gave us a nice overview of the town. We walked around town later in the week. I felt very safe walking in this area during the day. On our trip to town, we walked to a modern market, not far from the resort. There is a department/grocery store (Mega), Starbucks, Subway, clothing stores, ice cream shop, and more. It was interesting to see the differences in what their stores carried! I heard from other guests that they accept US dollars at these stores. We also bought a couple of items from some vendors on the beach. They can be talked into MUCH cheaper prices than they first offer, and they also accept US dollars.

I checked-in in advance on the resort web-site and requested a 3rd story room, because I read that these rooms usually had a partial ocean view. We loved the view from our room…not bad for a garden view room. We were in room 317. I will admit that it seemed like they added another flight of stairs each day, but it probably kept me from gaining a lot of weight on the great food! I was happy with the room. It was kept clean all week. Our mini fridge had water, soda, and beer in it and was re-stocked for free every day. There was a free safe in the room. The closet had plenty of space (I threw in cheap wire hangers from home and left them…glad I did as there were not enough in the room). The closet also had an iron and ironing board, 2 robes, and slippers for 2 (a very nice touch!). There is not much counter space in the bathroom, but there is a high shelf in the closet close by. There was a hair dryer. I loved the rain shower head! The only thing that would have made the shower nicer would have been a bench to sit on to shave. There is not a good place to store luggage, we wound up putting it in the closet and our shoes under the couch. We slept well and had no problems with noise even though the resort was pretty busy.

The resort grounds were well kept. It was interesting seeing palm trees and cactus coexisting! The resort has 2 tiers in one large U shape with halls to the rooms on the outside and balconies and patios on the inside. The upper tier has the lobby, dining areas, disco, and some rooms. There are steps down to a lower tier, which has more rooms, the main bar, pool, hot tub, lunch area, and beach. The resort is small, so I don’t think there is really a bad room location. Towels are kept at a small hut by the pool. They ask your room number when you take them out, so be sure to turn them back in! The pool was heated, but still a little cool to get in for long. Most people just laid out and enjoyed the sun.

They offered yoga and water aerobics every morning and poolside activities and games during the day. The activity staff was by far the BEST I have ever seen. They were friendly and would come sit down and talk to you, but were never pushy if you didn’t want to participate in something. I loved how they walked through the dining room at night informing everyone of what the evening activities were. When the resort got busy towards Valentine’s weekend, they had evening performers out by the main bar. This is a great idea, as there is boring downtime between dinner and the disco without it. I wish they had done this every night. The disco opens in the evening and there is usually a costume contest or contest of some sort. They give out anything from t-shirts to free nights as prizes. There is a pizza buffet outside the disco until about 2am. The party moves to the hot tub later, but unfortunately the bar closes at 2:30am. Be careful! The hot tub surface can be very slick and I saw a number of people fall! They also seemed to have a difficult time keeping the hot tub temperature consistent.

The food was wonderful for the most part. Breakfast is a buffet, but there is a made to order egg station. Lunch is by the pool. There is a salad area, a small buffet, and a grill with fish, burgers, steak, and chicken. The fish and chicken were my favorites. They had abundant guacamole and chips! There was usually only one of the restaurants open for dinner, except when the resort got busy later in the week. Some nights the main dining area was a buffet and others it was a la carte. It was all good. They only meal I did not like was at Suki. I had eaten at Suki at Desire Riviera Maya and loved it, so I was really surprised that the meal just wasn’t up to par. I didn’t even receive the right meal, and the waiter was too busy to care. That was the only poor service I received all week. The wait staff was outstanding overall! I think they were just too busy at Suki that night to offer good service or food. The alcohol and bar service was great...no complaints here at all!

There was about a 50/50 mix of lifestyle and non-lifestyle people at the resort. Everyone got along well whether they were lifestyle or not and hung out together. It was a little “lifestyle-light” compared to other lifestyle resorts I have visited. If you are new, just interested in finding out more about the lifestyle, or just into partying naked this is a good resort to visit. If you are looking for a happening lifestyle resort you might be a little let down. There is a playroom off of the disco, but it was in serious need of updating! It did get used some in the evenings. There was also some PDA in the evenings on the beds by the hot tubs, but you had to look for it.

One complaint I have is the open request for tips. You will find tip cups at the bars and see tipping all the time. Tipping (or not) does not seem to affect the service you receive, but I feel that tipping should not be allowed at an all-inclusive resort. I would prefer to pay more in advance to make sure the staff is well paid. One thing I love about most all-inclusive resorts is that you can put your wallet up and relax for the week, because your trip is paid for! This resort also offers upgrades to nicer meals and nicer wines. This is optional though and not pushed.

Overall, we really enjoyed this resort. It is a very nice resort and was reasonably priced. We would visit again!

[eddieandjojo]

Good report! Glad you enjoyed your first Desire Cabo visit. We agree about Suki being a little disappointing compared to Riviera Maya as we have always enjoyed the sushi and the overall quality of the food offered at RM. Otherwise, we thought the staff was wonderful as well.

E&J

[playbears57]

We enjoyed Suki at RM and LC. Had great time at LC in Feb as well.

However, our last night in main restaurant was terrible, food cold, serving mistakes etc. In fact last 2 nights in main restaurant service was very slow, causing us to miss changing for theme nights. The only blemish in our 4 days, in which service was excellent as usual. Entertainment staff were great, Rosa is doing a great job, each visit things keep improving. (this was our 3rd to LC).

Our feeling was that with occupancy slightly higher than the past, some nights the service is overwhelmed with the volume. Big surges with everyone forced into one restaurant. Hope they solve this problem.

The other side effect of slightly increased occupancy (45% vs past visits 30%) no beds at the jacuzzi. Seems like people claim beds and disappear, leaving no place to play. At RM people played and vacated, much better policy. This may be because people spend all day up there.

[couplenindy]

We enjoyed Suki at RM and LC. Had great time at LC in Feb as well.

However, our last night in main restaurant was terrible, food cold, serving mistakes etc. In fact last 2 nights in main restaurant service was very slow, causing us to miss changing for theme nights. The only blemish in our 4 days, in which service was excellent as usual. Entertainment staff were great, Rosa is doing a great job, each visit things keep improving. (this was our 3rd to LC).

Our feeling was that with occupancy slightly higher than the past, some nights the service is overwhelmed with the volume. Big surges with everyone forced into one restaurant. Hope they solve this problem.

The other side effect of slightly increased occupancy (45% vs past visits 30%) no beds at the jacuzzi. Seems like people claim beds and disappear, leaving no place to play. At RM people played and vacated, much better policy. This may be because people spend all day up there.

I think you are right about the jacuzzi beds. Because it is cooler in LC this time of year, people spend more of their day at the jacuzzi. We noticed that most beds and chairs were taken also. At RM they had a place to put your shoes etc close to the jacuzzi, so you didn't have to occupy a bed if you just needed somewhere to set your stuff. I think that worked well and most people used it.

Thanks for mentioning Rosa. We loved her and just saying her name made me smile!